Trump's Election Has Made American Billionaires Richer, Foreign Billionaires Poorer

Throughout his presidential campaign, Donald Trump told the world that he wanted to put “America First.” Intentionally or not, less than four days after his election, the soon-to-be Commander in Chief is already making good on that pledge.

In the past week, the 14 Americans who rank among the planet’s 20 richest people have added $9.4 billion to their combined net worths, according to FORBES’ real time rankings of the World’s Billionaires. The figures are based on the change in market closing prices between November 4 and November 11.

Conversely, the 6 non-U.S. billionaires among the world’s 20 richest lost a combined total of $10.6 billion in the past seven days. Only one of them, Chinese real estate and entertainment tycoon Wang Jianlin, had an uptick in his net worth—a relatively modest $200 million, bringing his fortune to $33 billion.

Trump’s victory was particularly bad news for Mexico’s richest person, Carlos Slim Helu. Mexico’s IPC stock index dropped 7% between Wednesday morning and Friday afternoon, and the value of the peso also depreciated 14% against the dollar. The declines knocked a whopping $4.6 billion off Slim’s fortune, lowering it to $45.2 billion.

This week’s wealth swings, of course, cannot all necessarily be attributed to Tuesday’s electoral outcome. But it is striking that U.S. stocks have performed so well in the wake of Trump’s unexpected triumph. Prior to Election Day, domestic markets rallied in anticipation of a Clinton victory. As the likelihood of her winning slowly eroded after midnight on Tuesday, global exchanges plummeted and Dow Jones futures fell by roughly 5%. But by the next day, most markets had recovered, and a number of key indices ended the week with substantial gains. The Dow, for instance, closed on Friday at a near-record high.

The surprise bullishness has resulted in significant boosts to the net worths of American billionaires in particular. The largest beneficiary has been Warren Buffett, whose Berkshire Hathaway stock rose 9% in the week through Friday afternoon, adding more than $6 billion to his fortune and pushing him ahead of Jeff Bezos in the ranks of the world’s richest, according to FORBES estimates. He’s now worth $70.3 billion and is the planet’s third-richest person, behind Bill Gates at No. 1 and Spain’s Amancio Ortega, founder of clothing chain Zara, at No. 2.

For Buffett, who vehemently opposed Trump’s candidacy, that windfall constitutes a rather tidy consolation prize.